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Abstract: This descriptive and correlational research studies 15,658 students from 335 secondary schools in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, through the results of the examination of admission to high school education (National High School Admission Test – EXANI I from the National Assessment Center for Education – CENEVAL) on logical-mathematical and verbal reasoning, mathematics and Spanish, comparing along the variables of sex, system (public or private), type of school of origin (there are seven types) and ranking of grades, with which, the main objective is to identify levels of institutional competitiveness. The main findings of the research were: (i) private schools, in comparison with public ones, showed percentages of more favorable grades (60.54 and 43.58 respectively); (ii) influence of the academic average of the students in the result of the examination of admission (correlation of .0403; (iii) greater competence in the area of ​​verbal reasoning (56.47) compared to logical-mathematical reasoning (55.69); and (iv) the identification of a small number of secondary schools considered as having sufficient institutional competitiveness (11 schools, equivalent to 3.28% of the total).

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Together with my fellow contryman, Renny Granda, public libraries’ own knight, we published the third part of the Caracas Trilogy (see first part and second part), where we invite you to reflect upon the question: could public spaces and libraries help us reducing violence in Latin American cities?

Abstract: The Caracas Metropolitan Strategic Plan 2020 (CMSP2020) is an instance of urban and environmental planning that seeks to construct a collective ‘city pact’ for Caracas, currently among the most troubled and violent cities in Latin America. Its main idea is to recover the city through the rescue of its public spaces, by centering on six strategic axes for transforming Caracas: accessibility and mobility; public safety, public spaces and housing improvement; environmental sustainability; productivity and entrepreneurship; governability; and the development of a constructive and responsible citizenship. This model, partly inspired by Medellin’s Library Parks, may be useful for other large cities in the region that suffer similar socio-political fractures, as well as accessibility, mobility, environmental, productive, governance and safety issues.

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The new Developing Latin America, co-authored with Javier Tarango and Eduardo Medina-Yllescas is out. In this issue, we analyze the current presence of Latin American journals in Web of Science and Scopus, as the first part of a quality roadmap intended to strengthen regional publications, especially those that have started as institutional publications. Dedicated to the loving memory of Cristobal Salvador Gómez Contreras (1992-2017).

Abstract: The current presence of Latin American journals in Web of Science and Scopus is analyzed, as the first part of a quality roadmap intended to strengthen regional publications, especially those that have started as institutional publications. The next issue will study the quality requirements and journals’ presence in other recognized indexes and platforms such as Scimago Journal and Country Rank, the Directory of Open Access Journals, Latindex, SciELO, and RedALyC.

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On Friday, October 21, in the XI Librarianship Meeting of Baja California, organized by ABIBAC, Asoc. de Bibliotecarios de Baja California, A.C., taking place in CETYS Universidad, campus Mexicali, I presented the workshop for librarians/researchers: ‘I already published my research, what now? Profiles management and Altmetrics to enhance visibility, attention and presume a little bit’.

The objective of this workshop was to provide tools, strategies and procedures so that information professionals and libraries can support researchers in promoting their research published in scientific journals using international professional networks and channels for this purpose.

The contents presented include the definition of professional networks and channels for the promotion of scientific publications, as well as a strategic workflow that every researcher should use in order to promote and gain value in terms of their visibility, attention and authority as scientists.

The importance of this type of workshop is that if information professionals and libraries manage the formal channels for the promotion and metrics of the scientific publications evaluation, elements that are within this discipline, they can position themselves with a vital role within the processes of scientific communication in their institutions. These issues also represent some important support for researchers, since they usually do not do it themselves because of time constraints or ignorance. However, conducting an appropriate promotion through the relevant scientific channels, networks and indexes are key activities for enhancing the visibility of a researcher, to ensure that their intellectual production is read and cited, which will allow them to be part of the National Researchers System, access research funds, or collaborative projects, as well as reaching other national and international merits. All these are important issues for higher education institutions, although some of them will not want to address these issues or will fail to recognize them, as the area of research and intellectual production becomes more important as an element used to evaluate the capacity and quality of an educational institution. Topics such as those discussed in the workshop reinforce institutional research plans, since they are basic strategies for the intellectual production carried out in institutions to generate a greater impact, which allows increasing the number of researchers who have distinctions and are internationally recognized as authorities In their areas. This means that educational institutions gain greater visibility, recognition and positioning as knowledge-generating institutions and are more favorably evaluated in international

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Our presentation at #ECIL2016 in Prague: ‘Assessing spanish-speaking university students’ info-competencies with iSkills, SAILS, and an in-house instrument: Challenges and benefits’ was a success! Coauthors: Jesus Lau (presented at the conference), Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo, Alberto Gárate, and A. Cecilia Tagliapietra-Ovies. #CETYS and its information culture are very fortunate, as it has been in the European Conference on Information Literacy for the fourth year in a row.

Abstract: This work corresponds to a practical and transversal integration process of information literacy in university curricula, specifically with undergraduate students from the philosophy program of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua (Mexico), by developing alternatives to evolve traditional classroom teaching practices toward integrating learning communities and using action research as means of influencing a continuous improvement upon learning processes. This chapter discusses basic concepts from this study and provides the results, which were a product of the data collected from ethnographic processes. This practical experience has demonstrated the feasibility of combining this study’s components for the achievement of active learning, but also for identifying specific elements that inhibit a full implementation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100673-3.00004-6

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Publons, a website that created a system for recognizing the value of an activity rarely taken into consideration: peer review has awarded me with the title of Certified Sentinel of Science, for being among the top 10% of best reviewers in the Social Sciences field at a worldwide level. Have you performed peer-review activities? Try creating your profile at http://publons.com to get recognition for it, it’s well worth it! You can also have a look at my profile.